Oh, and you might of seen me on here before ( I posted on page 10 a long time ago) I mentioned I was going to circ if I had a son. I have clearly changed my view on this after seeing many many done and I absolutely hate partaking in them now. There is NO WAY I will have this done to my son if I have one, and I have convinced my hubby as well!

YAY!! You know, there are nurses who are conscientious objectors to circumcision and will not help with them. I know that is risky, but it is possible.

Oh and the surgeon actually said to this mom "most people do it so they can look like all the other American boys. Did you know if you are in Europe that's one way you can sort of tell the difference, because they don't circ very often there" and that's when the mom asked what happens of they aren't circed, and he had no reason medically why a circ was necessary. He said over a lifetime and broad spectrum of males there is an increased risk of penile cancer, but if the boy kept it clean and washed it like any other body part in the shower it wouldn't cause any more risk for infection than uncircumcised penises. So his only argument was for aesthetics! Ugh! It sucks to not be able to fully be able to tout my views to these parents!

So I am wondering could you generalize the Dr's position? Would he prefer that they aren't done?

I just said no way, no how, and that I would divorce him and not put his name on the birth cert. I was serious. I said he had to convince me why circ'ing was better. He only came up with that his dad and brothers are. I said, "And you guys always sit around naked, comparing penises." Then we swore and screamed. Later I offered him a short article to read on it, and he eventually read it and agreed and was very happy I made him change his mind.

LOL LOVE IT!! totally sounds like something I would do/say..good for you! Luckily there was no debate in my home.. no circ- not a chance in hell and I like it that way... DS was born perfect...as they say, "if it aint broke, dont fix it"!

I am a NICU nurse and unfortunately have to assist the doctor to do these. It is sad to see how uninformed parents are... They are just doing it to "look like dad" or "fit in with all the other boys in the locker room". And recently this mom in the NICU signed a consent for having a circumcision that the surgeon gave her and didn't ask till after it was already done why circs are done and what would happen if he wasn't circumcised! Wish she would have done that earlier, or the doc would have explained things more cause she might have changed her mind! And to top it off this poor boy ended up having major complications. He ended up cutting off too much and nicked an ARTERY!! He ended up having to stitch all around his poor penis to stop the bleeding! He is a swollen and miserable mess now and has been lethargic and restless while sleeping all weekend while I worked! I felt sooo bad for him!!! And this was done by a pediatric surgeon! I was anti circ before but after seeing this, this really put the nail in the coffin for me. Poor baby was miserable! And after all the pain and procedures this poor little guy had to go through the past 4 months of being in the NICU, this was probly the worst, especially cause all they could give him for pain was Tylenol!

my mom is a post partum nurse and frequently assists with circs. she also has many stories of botched ones. there's one dr in particular that she just cringes everytime she has to assist and has actually warned people away from her. apparently she just doesn't even care, does it quickly and carelessly, and often way way way too tight. it makes me sick to my stomach and i wish i wouldn't even have to hear these stories. especially because i usually respond with something like "oh that is just horrible! i wish people would just choose to not even do that". and then she gets all defensive about it, because she thinks it's no big deal. i dunno, it clearly bothers her when it's done badly/carelessly, and she didn't really care when ds was born and we left him intact, but she still defends it pretty vigorously. i'm guessing because if she doesn't then she has to feel guilty about having my brother circ'd 25 years ago? i dunno, i don't think it's worth making her feel bad about that, we all do what we think is best for our kids based on what we know at the time. so i usually just don't pursue it. but her stories definitely make me much more firmly in the "anti-circ" camp.

i actually didn't really have an opinion one way or the other until i was pregnant with ds. dh, however, is not from the US, and is not circ'd (i've seen so few penises, that i'm embarassed to admit i had to ask him if he was or not. he laughed at me ). when i asked him if he thought we should circ ds, he was confused at first and needed me to explain what it was. when i told him, his exact reaction was, no joke "omg! no way! i'd heard that americans did that but i thought it was just one of the nasty stereotypes! you do NOT?! why would you do that?!? i heard you also do something similar to girls when they're born. is that true too?!?!" i was totally shocked! i'd never thought about it like that! female circumcision is so horrible, THAT part was obviously a nasty rumor, and i'd never thought to compare the 2. i tried the age-old "but isn't it more sanitary to circ?" and he just laughed and was like "um well you just have to CLEAN it". and...i dunno, it was just so LOGICAL, i couldn't argue it. and so i did some research and realized i agreed with him. plus, he threatened me with bodily harm if i let anyone with a scalpel near his son's penis so it was never going to happen anyways. i'm so, so glad that dh felt the way he did. the more i think/hear/read about it, the more convinced i am that even if it weren't for a very horrified husband standing in my way, i would not want to alter my son like that. it also really opened my eyes to the fact that this is not the norm. most of the rest of the world is pretty horrified and disgusted by it. dh doesn't understand the whole circ/no-circ debate in this country and would never necessarily say he was taking a side. he really just doesn't get it. it's so strange to him, he's mostly just shocked that it's done at all. i've only ever seen him get passionate about it when i suggested doing it to his son, other than that, he mostly just sits back in quiet horror and wonders wth we're doing? i dunno, it provided me with a very interesting perspective on the whole thing.

Thank you for the interesting perspective, Liadan. It is very hard to see outside one's culture without a lot of help, like you got from your husband. I know I thought circumcision was what you had to do. Then I thought it was just a choice, like OB or midwife. Then one day, a switch flipped in my head, and it was as clear as day: why would you cut healthy tissue from a brand-new baby?